The present invention relates to the care and maintenance of brushes, and more particularly to devices and systems for promoting a more rapid drying of the bundled bristles of a brush while preserving a desired shape of the bundled bristles.
Since the early part of the nineteenth century, bristle brushes have been used to apply paint and other relatively viscous liquids to the surfaces of a wide variety of substrates. The basic brush includes a handle, a plurality of natural or synthetic bristles, and a ferrule, typically metal, for mounting the bristles to one end of the handle. The bristles are mounted as a bundle, tightly packed at the ferrule and extending away from the ferrule in the handle length direction. Depending on the brush style, the bristles are either substantially parallel, or flared in the sense of including centrally located bristles extending lengthwise and peripheral bristles slightly inclined outwardly as they extend away from the ferrule.
In either event, the bundle is composed of multiple bristles, and multiple interstitial regions or open spaces between and among the bristles. The interstitial regions tend to be elongate in the direction of the bristles, and tend to enlarge as they approach the free ends of the bristles, due either to a flaring of the bundle or to a natural taper of the bristles to pointed free ends. The interstitial regions cooperate to provide a reservoir that receives and holds the paint or other viscous substance, then releases the substance as the bundle of bristles is drawn across the surface of a substrate.
Cosmetic brushes generally are formed with considerably finer bristles than paint brushes, and are used to apply a variety of cosmetics including eyeliner, eyeshadow, blush, bronzer, and concealer, in liquid and powdered form. As with other brushes, the interstitial regions in the bristle bundle of a cosmetic brush provide a reservoir for the cosmetic, releasing the cosmetic as the brush is drawn across the user's skin.
Brushes used for artistic painting are quite similar to cosmetic brushes, and typically employ similar bristles.
Proper maintenance of brushes requires thorough cleaning of the bristles. In the case of paint brushes, the most obvious requirement is to avoid an accumulation and drying of paint in the interstitial regions, which hardens the bristles and ruins the brush. Cosmetic brushes are also subject to this requirement. Further, because they are used to apply substances to the skin, cosmetic brushes are subject to the risk of skin irritation due to a buildup of previously applied cosmetics and foreign matter. Accumulated makeup products can harbor bacterial growth which can be harmful to the skin.
Accordingly, careful users endeavor to clean brushes thoroughly, directly after use. Paint brushes typically are cleaned with low viscosity liquids such as water or paint thinner. Cosmetic brushes frequently are cleaned with water mixed with soap, shampoo, or vinegar, followed by a water rinse. Wetting the bristles leaves them highly compliant, and care must be taken to preserve the desired shape of the bundle of bristles as drying proceeds. To this end, U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,939 (Derencsenyi et al.) discloses a resilient sleeve, preferably formed of PVC, polyethylene or polypropylene. The sleeve covers the bristles, the stock and part of the handle and is formed with slots or other openings that allow passage of air or moisture to aid the drying. U.S. Pat. No. 6,199,694 (Van Diest et al.) discloses a plastic sheath with halves that resiliently flex to allow insertion and removal of the brush. The sheath is provided with vent holes to hasten drying. In U.S. Pat. No. 1,359,650 (Amis), a shaving brush holder is formed as a rubber tube that supports the shaving brush vertically. Perforations through the tube allow passage of air and moisture, although the primary purpose of the holder is said to be protecting items near the shaving brush and holder to exposure to moisture from the wet brush.
According to another approach intended to protect submerged bristles, U.S. Pat. No. 2,263,119 (Cornell) provides a perforated casing to surround a brush when submerged in a brush preservative fluid. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 816,793 (Harris) discloses a cup shaped holder containing a brush cleaning liquid. A ring at the top of the holder is designed to suspend the bristles in the liquid, maintaining the bush in a vertical orientation while keeping the weight of the handle off of the bristles.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,140,061 (Baker et al.) discloses a bristle preservation system directed to fine-bristled brushes, more particularly artists' brushes. The system includes an elastically deformable braided tube formed of helically wound filaments. The tube undergoes axial elongation and radial contraction (or vice versa) simultaneously in the manner of a stent or Chinese handcuff. The tube is sufficiently long to extend beyond the tips of the bristles while also surrounding and bearing against at least part of the ferrule. The tube is said to be stable enough to hold the handle and bristles in a vertical orientation with the bristles pointing down. On a website (www.thebrushguad.com) describing the patented tube, it is stated that “brushes can dry bristles down so gravity pulls moisture away from the ferrule.”
The forgoing devices, although useful in certain applications, rely on convective and gravitational transfer of moisture. Thus, while tending to protect the bristles during drying to preserve the desired shape, they are unlikely to increase the rate of drying, and in some cases may even increase the drying time. Accordingly, they do not effectively address circumstances that limit the time available for drying—for example, a travel schedule with brief stays at different locations, where leaving brushes out to dry for an extended time may be difficult or impossible.
Accordingly, the present invention involves several aspects, each directed to one or more of the following objects:                to provide a device capable of applying substantial radially inward pressure when surrounding the bristles of a brush, to promote a more rapid drying of the bristles while more effectively preserving or restoring the desired bristle shape;        to provide a bristle drying system that relies on a moisture transfer mechanism other than convection or gravity, to substantially increase the rate of drying;        to provide a moisture permeable cover for a bundle of bristles, capable of rapidly drying and effectively shaping the bristles without requiring a vertical orientation or suspension of the brush; and        to provide a system for storing multiple brushes, capable of promoting rapid drying and proper shaping of the brushes when stored.        